Cougars-Sun Devils: Washington State to Welcome Arizona Schools

Washington State University will host the Arizona schools in Pullman this week.

First in town Thursday will be the Arizona State Sun Devils.

The question to be asked here though is: "Which ASU team will show up in Pullman?"

At one point this season, Coach Herb Sendek had his Sun Devil team playing brilliant basketball.

ASU was 16-2 and the squad was ranked among the top/elite teams in the country. There was talk of a Pac-10 championship. Fans had visions of playing for an NCAA championship. Sendek was going to be in line for Coach of the Year honors. And suddenly, one of the toughest tickets to secure in the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix area) was a reserved seat to see Arizona State play basketball. There was a basketball team in Phoenix other than the Suns getting media attention and love.

Things took a dramatic change for the Sun Devils just about as quickly as their ascension to college basketball prominence.

Their road trip to northern California got off to a good beginning in Berkeley. A few days after their 16th win on the season (a victory in double overtime), ASU ran into the talented, well-coached team in Palo Alto. Stanford shut down the Sun Devil offense and handed them a one-sided defeat, 67-52.

ASU has earned just two victories in their last eight games. Yikes! Such are the challenges of playing in the Pac-10.

Coach Sendek’s team completed a season sweep over in-state rival Arizona. It’s been more than a decade since that last happened.

Last Thursday, the Sun Devils rallied back to take the Stanford Cardinal into an overtime period. That was all they needed to exact revenge for the loss that began their downward spiral. The victory looked as though it might be the start of a winning streak.

California hung on to defeat ASU on their home court Saturday, enjoying a measure of revenge for themselves. Though the loss wasn’t worthy of inflammatory adjectives, it was a blow to a team that has to travel to Washington this week.

Enough about Arizona State.

Things have been rosier for Washington State these days. The Cougs were in the midst of a tailspin that saw them lose three games in a row to begin this month. They were plummeting in the national rankings. Instead of winning close games, they were coming out on the short end of the score.

Three solid wins over USC, OSU and Oregon have quieted opposing fans roaring the chant, "Overrated".

The emergence of Taylor Rochestie as scorer has, and will, set a fire for the Cougar offense. If teams want to take the ball out of the hands of Derrick Low, Coach Tony Bennett is more than fine with that. Rochestie has plenty of scoring talent. WSU offense is never going to amaze fans, but Coach Bennett has plenty of weapons to attack opponents. He would be the first to credit much of the team’s success to having seven legitimate scorers in his rotation. That has been critical because of inconsistency. If five of the Cougs ever get hot at the same time, look out!

Washington State isn’t about offense. They are all about defense and controlling the tempo of the game.

Come Thursday evening, the Cougs are going to need to play some outstanding defense to minimize the impact of arguably the best guard in the Pac-10, freshman James Harden. This kid is an awesome talent. He can take over a game at either end of the court and has done so repeatedly this season. As Harden goes, so go the Sun Devils.

Fortunately, WSU is on their home court and playing good basketball. The Zzu Cru will give the Cougs an extra shot of adrenaline. They escaped Tempe will a razor thin victory, so clearly won’t be overconfident facing a team that is struggling a bit.

Prediction: WSU 72 - ASU 61

GO COUGS!!!